>> welcome to the "journal" upon dw -- bond dw -- on dw. berlin denies the pre-election should include a referendum of the euro. >> facebook fizzled. the largest internet ipo leaves investors unimpressed. >> and world leaders gather in the u.s. for the g-8 summit with europe's financial problems set to dominate. that germany's chancellor angela

merkel has suggested greased hold a referendum on staying in the eurozone -- greece hold a referendum. >> a source close to the president said she broached the subject of a referendum. merkel's office denied the report. this strikes like lightning and adds to the feeling that new elections in greece next month will indeed be a vote for or against euro membership. let's go to our chief correspondent on the story in berlin. we have to admit -- we were not terribly surprised when we heard this report about merkel's suggested a referendum, but we were surprised to hear her office immediately saying none of this was true. >> they have emphatically denied it. we call the chancellery, and they said she must definitely did not suggest that a referendum be held -- we called the chancellery. it might be a trifle surprising had she suggested this, since

she quite vehemently rejected the idea in talks last fall and winter. on the other hand, many people in berlin are saying that these upcoming elections will be tantamount to a decision about whether or not to stay in the euro. >> you have been following merkel for a very long time. what do you think this will do to her? will this add pressure to offer some type of solution g-8 -- at the g-8 summit where everyone will already be talking about greece. >> she is already under great deal of pressure, due to the election of a growth-friendly president in france, but she has said she is not against growth. she is for both austerity and growth and has made it clear that germany is willing to see some measures taken to do more to support growth in the indebted countries. >> our chief political

correspondent on the subject. thank you very much. >> let's get the view from greece now. our correspondent in athens. this is all very confusing. what more can you tell us about merkel's phone call with the greek president? >> as you said, it went off like a bombshell here. the presidency so far is sticking to its view that the issue of a referendum was raised by the chancellor, and i guess it is just an indication of how much attention there is on the whole great question. the vehemence with which every political party in greece reacted to the news, that the chancellor had or had not raised the issue of a referendum -- the leader of the conservative new democracy, which is now forecast actually to get the most seats in parliament, said it was bad

timing, unfortunate, and a wrong message. the leader of the radical left party, which is against austerity policies, said this was treating greece like a " protectorate or colony." the sharpest, came from the leader of the fourth largest party who said that if mrs. merkel was to have a referendum on europe, she should have it in her own country j. if mrs. merkel wants to have a referendum on your -- if mrs. merkel wants to have a referendum on europe. >> this is not only a european story, monica. u.s. president obama has warned that the eurozone crisis could hurt america. europe is the u.s.'s biggest trading partner, and we cannot forget obama is up for reelection. a report now on the g-8 agenda and its old and new players.

and all eyes were on the new man in the g-8, france's president, francois hollande. he called for growth rather than more austerity. others are waiting to see if he will push this line so strongly now that he is in power. one man hoping he will is president barack obama, who has long been calling for europe to boost its flagging economies. >> it is my great pleasure to welcome president hollande. >> europe's debt crisis is only one issue on obama's mind. he has announced move -- money to help farmers in africa in an effort to ease a food shortage. >> we are launching a major new partnership to reduce hunger and lift tens of millions of people from poverty. >> other issues are likely to prove more controversial. german chancellor angela merkel

is expected to put up tough resistance to obama's calls for europe to spend its way out of its problems. >> our washington correspondent is following the events for us. we just saw president obama has met with the french president, and the two seemed to get on pretty well. what does that mean for germany? >> merkel is losing one of her closest allies, at least for the euro crisis. with sarkozy, she was on the same page. with hollande, she is not. that seems to be the case for obama. they are in favor of public spending to get the economy going again, even if that means public debt would be increased. that probably means that the pressure on the g-8 summit will also be increased on chancellor merkel, and we might even see some kind of concession from her by the end of the summit. at least, that is what a lot of

people expect. >> the summit has already been dubbed as a crisis summit that will be dominated by the eurozone debt crisis. there are few other topics on the agenda. will there be time to discuss those as well? >> there's all kinds of topics. foreign policy-wise, that is what they will do a friday evening. iran, syria very important on the agenda. north korea as well. the most dominant thing will be the euro crisis, but what you cannot expect our solutions or precise outcomes after something like that -- we cannot expect are solutions or precise outcomes. for observers, it is important to see if there is a change in tied or direction. for example, with the topic of growth versus austerity, for leaders, it is important to sell this as a success. many of these leaders have their own huge problems in their countries. obama is up for reelection. all the european leaders have their own problems at home. they want to sell this as a

success and do not want anyone to lose face here. >> thank you very much. >> no surprise -- there are some new facebook millionaires and billionaires are around the world today, but the euphoria of the facebook ipo has dissipated rather quickly. >> the social media giant went public on the nasdaq in new york today. starting price was $38 a share. right now, the price is hovering around $40. >> do not say i told you so, monica. that is not a skyrocket start to an ideal that has been hailed as one of the most important ever -- to an ipo that has been hailed as one of the most important ever. our recap of the facebook debut on the stock market. >> unbridled euphoria at company headquarters as the long awaited ipo got under way. in an instant, facebook founder mark zuckerberg became a billionaire 19 times over, and his many employees are

benefiting as well. >> in the past eight years, all of you out there have built the largest community in the history of the world. you have done amazing things that we never would have dreamed of, and i cannot wait to see what you guys all do going forward. >> the upstart company lost money for much of the last decade. it first went into the black in 2009 as advertising revenues exploded. last year, the firm reported profits of 800 million euros. facebook has gone far beyond the start of stage as the trading day continued -- barbie on the startup stage -- facebook has gone far beyond start up stage. as the trading day continued, share value fluctuated. facebook revenues rely almost wholly on avenue -- on

advertising, which makes it a risky business in the eyes of many investors. >> our correspondent on wall street is on this story. lots of hype around this ipo, but the share price does not justify it. what happened today? >> not at all. it is really a great question -- what happened today? it was the biggest surprise anybody on wall street could have seen. there was all that enthusiasm for the last two weeks. there was hardly any other topic discussed as much as the facebook ipo. people were talking about an explosion of prices in the first hours. average high-tech stocks had a plus of about 35% historically on their first day of trading, and people thought that would be the minimum for facebook. facebook opened at $42, only 13% higher than the price of issue, and it went down all the way down to $30, and the only

reason it stabilized there was that the issuing banks, the underwriters, came in with their own money to stabilize the price. that is important because had facebook drop below $30, it would have been difficult in the future to get investors excited about the stock -- had facebook dropped below $38. >> briefly nasdaq had a lot of trouble getting trading of facebook shares going on today. zynga shares were taken out of action as well. there has just been too much trauma, a lot of people are saying -- too much drama. >> there was quite a bit, but nothing really out of the ordinary. that happens with and i feel like that. they had a deal at nasdaq with the biggest ipo in a long time. it went rather well. prices are stable. zynga -- there were problems not only on nasdaq's side, but generally, zynga was under a lot

of pressure just like other social media stocks because they had risen in the last couple of days, and with the disappointment in facebook, they lost value pretty quickly as well. >> thank you very much. all right, in a minute, we will be looking at how dangerously passionate football fans can be. >> first, a quick look at other stories making news around the world. >> in germany's banking capital frankfurt, the block-uppyy movement. organizers expect more than 40,000 people to take part in a march on saturday. that a german court ordered the release from prison of german -- a german-canadian arms dealer on health grounds. he is currently serving a eight- year sentence for tax evasion. the case is set for retrial.

it tarnished the reputation of the former german chancellor. >> the interior ministers of europe's six largest countries% are holding talks in munich about new eu travel regulations. germany expressed skepticism about eu plans to register all travellers entering and leaving europe. the u.s. justice minister and homeland security chief will brief their european colleagues on the u.s.'s system to screen travelers. all right, the german football association is hearing an appeal over what is being called the game of shame. >> tuesday, fans ran onto the field in a premature celebration of promotion two minutes before a final whistle in the game. >> the match was eventually restarted, but berlin claimed the disruption rob them of a chance of scoring the goal that

they needed to avoid relegation. >> the panel will relegate over the weekend. a final decision is expected monday afternoon. duesseldorf maintains the outcome should be confirmed. the referee testified he rigorously conformed with fifa regulations as the match spiraled out of control. if the panel confirms his testimony, the ruling will stand. but berlin is relying on april the gives it the right to contest a match. a ruling in their favor means a rematch. isidor fans stormed the pitch two minutes before the match was over -- dusseldorf fans. their eagerness to celebrate could cost a promotion. the panel also heard testimony about reports of hostilities by players after the match. when men testified that he was a salted and felt a blow to the back of his head -- one man testified. both teams could face hefty

fines or perhaps even suspension no matter how the panel rules. >> all right, we will be back in one minute. >> do not go away.

>> welcome back, everyone. it is the champions league showdown. >> munich takes on chelsea this saturday, and it is their last chance to salvage a season that has been anything but winning. >> it is a successful club with a cutting edge stadium and state of the art training facilities. the club has become a legend, but how did it get there? first and foremost, through sporting success. in the 1970's, players developed into outstanding world-class soccer players. the team won several championships and three world cup championships in a row, but

one crucial element was still to come. he started as a manager in 1979 at age 27 with no professional experience. >> he made the club what it is. he taught himself everything. he was a self-made man and turned the club into a flourishing economic undertaking. >> solid economic management with no debt is one of the key aspects of his success and the bayern myth. he also brought former leading players on to the board and the now honorary president who has also been known to fill in as coach. finally and perhaps most important, there is a sense of belonging to one big family. as a club, bayern oozes self- confidence, which many fans see as arrogance. >> if you are honest, you have to admit it is far and away the best german team. >> love them or hate them, it is

all part of the image of the club. even critics admit that of all of the german clubs, it is usually bayern that stays in the longest at the european level. this year is no exception as the club gets ready for the champions league final. >> talk about a little bit of modesty there, right? >> we will see what happens tomorrow. >> let's talk about music. europe's most popular entertainment show kicks off on may 22 in the capital of azerbaijani -- april 22 in the capital -- on may 22 in the azerbaijan. >> even has come at the expense of ordinary citizens. >> however, organizers say they will not let anything stop them from putting on a great show for the millions of people who are expected to tune in. >> germany is pinning its hopes on the 21-year-old german contestant for the song contest,

who landed with the rest of the delegation on wednesday. the city has pulled out all the stops for the song contest, but there are things the delegation probably will not see. the government forced tens of thousands of residents to leave their homes to make room for the event with no compensation. this footage was shot recently just a few kilometers from the theater where the contest is being held. the venue was built by a german company in just eight months. evidently undeterred by as of the nation's human rights records -- as a by gen -- of azerbaijan -- azerbaijan's human rights record. >> i think we made it through because of the substance of our bid. all the rest had nothing to do with it. >> it is not just the building that is german-made.

almost all the equipment to be used in the show has been imported from germany. two whole trainloads of goods. in that respect, this year's contest is almost as german as last year's held in this ago. every cable came from germany. the production company says human rights in as a bystander -- in azerbaijan are not their concern. >> it is entertainment, but if it leads to political discussions as well, that would not be bad. >> for instance, discussions about freedom of assembly. opposition protests are regularly banned. this one in baku on monday was dispersed with violence and arrests were made. the president came to power through massive vote fraud and has had an iron grip on the country for almost 10 years. the opposition does not stand a chance against him.

some say the show could even help the opposition. >> the eu"eurovision" song contest offers a big stage, and the political opposition is using it as a platform to present its position. >> for now, the competitors from across europe and beyond are busy rehearsing in the auditorium, the crystal hall. they have just eight days until the finale, and then they will pick up and go back home. >> it has been two months since a military coup in mali. an interim civilian government has been put in place, but coup leaders still retain power in the capital. many agree that the former government was dysfunctional, but the course of events has left this impoverished west african nation with a very uncertain future. >> we drive over the ridge -- river niger to the capital of

mali. at first glance, it is hard to tell that a coup took place here in march. many people here are furious, but not at those who seized power. >> the military coup was good for us, good for everyone in mali because the government was incapable, unscrupulous, and without honor. they did things really badly. >> it is hard to find anyone who misses the old regime, but can the military rule the country better? we spent two weeks trying to get an interview with the leader of the military coup. the first meeting was cancelled. but then, he agreed to see us for 15 minutes. we asked if democracy in mali had failed.

>> there was no democracy. it was an empty shell. a democracy where the president lies to his people, a democracy where the officials are richer than the top businessmen, a democracy where the prime minister siphons off public money for himself, a democracy where you have to ride a politician to be able to join the army -- that is not a democracy -- where you have to bribe a politician to be able to join the army. >> these people also think the elected government failed the country. they are from mali -- northern mali. these people do not want to live in to livetuareg or -- separate tuareg or islamist state. >> the occupiers come with ideas that are completely foreign to timbuktu. a foreign way of life. a foreign religion. a foreign way of thinking.

>> the rebels have taken over a huge area -- larger than germany. for the islamists, it could serve as a base for attacks on neighboring countries. no one in mali believes these heavily armed rebels will leave without a fight. >> we are considering all the possible solutions. we have a transitional president and prime minister. i will let them do their job. i of the transitional government needs the army, then here we are -- if the transitional government needs the army. we have sworn to defend this country, and we will continue doing that until the last soldier has fallen. >> but without international support, mali's army is unlikely to win the war. in a few days, the interim

president's term of office expires. the coup leader says he will take responsibility then. that could mean he has chosen a new president or wants the job himself. >> the classical music world is mourning the loss of one of the greatest baritones of the 20th century, german singer fischer- dieskau. >> he is due to be buried in a private ceremony in berlin. ♪ >> fischer-dieskau was renowned for songs by romantic composers such as schubert. he was a lyric baritone and had

an unusually large repertoire that spanned centuries of music from a rope to contemporary -- baroque to contemporary. fischer-dieskau was born in 1925 in berlin. he started singing lessons at the age of 16. after serving in the german army in world war ii and spending time in american prisoner of war camp, fischer-dieskau began his singing career. in 1951, he made his debut at the salzburg festival. after he retired from singing in 1992, fischer-dieskau painted, wrote, and continued to teach.

>> i learned more from my students than i could ever have taught them. during my luggage during our lessons, and a new discoveries, not only of local problems, but also issues of interpretation -- during our lessons, i made new discoveries. it proved that the study of music continues until you die. >> that wraps it up for this edition of the "journal." we will be back at the top of the hour. >> thanks for watching. do stay with dw. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--